By John Tanner, Big Brother and General Manager

When I was asked if I wanted to share my story about being a Big Brother, I was surprised, honored and excited. I immediately went home and thought how I should approach this.

The more I thought, the more in depth and complicated it became. Something was wrong … I realized that I was focused on me, and that is where the story had to change. You see, the story isn’t about me, the story is about two people on a journey through life and how they ended up together. That’s the story I’m going to share with you.

But before I do, let me try to define what I think a ‘Big Brother’ or ‘Big Sister’ really is. Is it a father or mother figure? Is it a friend, a mentor … or just another guidance counselor?

It could have many meanings or sentiments. For me, being a Big Brother means a second chance. A second chance for me, and a second chance for my little. I have wanted to be part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program for more than 10 years. I’ve looked into it, read every piece of literature available and Googled everything, but I kept finding excuses to postpone it.

“I’m too busy … work is hectic … I have no time … I’m overweight … I have my own problems … they won’t like me.”

Anything to keep from committing.

I have always been emotional, and had a soft spot towards children in unfortunate or uncontrolled circumstances. It is a humanistic nature to protect our young, and at times, as humans we tend to make mistakes, sometimes unforgettable and forever impressionable mistakes.

I would often wonder, “Why are these children being put into such unfortunate situations? They are our future, they deserve better.”

Then I remembered my own childhood. My parents divorced, my mother married three times and my father was constantly in and out of my life. I was abused and there was no one to help, yet I had to endure.

When I was 17, I was on my own living in a trailer in upstate New York during winter with no heat. I didn’t have anybody to help me, offer guidance or even simply just listen. I had to be tough. I fought my way through everything, and made choices that probably weren’t the best choices at the time.

I had to build an emotional wall around me, so that no one could hurt me again. This caused me to have trust issues, be the loudest in the room, always first in everything I do and sadly, to put my career before my family. Unfortunately, that emotional wall shut down the real John Tanner. I only allowed a few people into my circle of trust and was always on guard.

It wasn’t until 26 years later that I finally broke down the wall. When I had my first interview with Innisfree Hotels, I was ready. I wanted in. I came fully dressed with jacket, tie – and, yes, briefcase.

As I was waiting at the Holiday Inn outside the meeting room, I heard a booming voice shout, “Tell Tanner to take his tie off!” (I thought there must be another Tanner.) Then Jill Miller came running to me and told me to take my tie off. So there I was standing outside the meeting room in front of exiting General Managers, undressing and stuffing my $87 Vineyard Tie into my briefcase mumbling under my breath, “Great, just great.”  What a way to start the interview. I met with Mike Nixon, Jason Nicholson, George Coolbaugh, Gabe Dicianni and Gwen Vickers. Talk about an interview process. I must have done something right, because here I am.

When I started working with Innisfree Hotels, the culture of deep love and warmth embraced me. It was normal and required to hug and say, “I see you, and I love you.”

My deepest regards to my mentor George Coolbaugh for, in a way, she was  my “BIG.”  Or, as we say at Innisfree, the answer – or a step forward to my “growing edge.” The first time she visited my hotel, she approached me for a hug and I stuck my hand out for a handshake. I saw the surprise in her reaction and I felt bad.

Almost three years and many Genesis meetings later, I’m the most huggable person I know, and I can’t even begin to tell you what an emotional rush it was to be accepted, to be appreciated, and simply loved.  

This is the reason why I love Innisfree. I enjoyed volunteering at the Dixon School of the Arts carnival, I enjoy sending money for simple items like coats to stay warm, I enjoy spreading mulch for our garden, I enjoy sending food to those in need. (Food, right? I’m ashamed to say I have eaten more than my share over my life, and the fact that kids these days don’t have enough is disheartening.)

To Julian and Kim Mc Queen, I thank you for your commitment, and I thank you for Innisfree.

This is the reason why I joined Big Brothers Big Sisters.

My first LITTLE was a young boy who struggled with reading and making friends. We met at school once a week. In less than two months, he was reading and his grades improved. I was inspired when the principal stated that she didn’t know that he could even read. Really, a basic form of communication. I was overwhelmed with joy to have taught another person not only how to read, but how to interact positively with his peers and grow his friendships. Now, he wants to continue into the summer.

I wanted more. Thus, I asked for another LITTLE!

We all have this life we live … this journey that we are on. All of us, no matter what background we come from have hurdles we need to conquer. My LITTLE, well, his journey thus far has been beyond my comprehension. His struggles are real. He was bounced from foster care homes until he was finally adopted by his aunt, a single mom who by the gracious nature of her heart took him in and endeavored to provide a positive family atmosphere, that many of us take as a given.

This was it, my opportunity to make a difference. When I met my LITTLE, all he wanted was to go fishing, he even had names for his fishing poles. Really, that’s it … fishing! Most kids want iPhones, Play Stations or Xboxes. No problem man, we’re going fishing! I went out and bought my first fishing license in 20 years and he is going to remind me what “natural fun is.” Then I find out he loves movies and especially the Marvel movies. Now I know this was a divine intervention, since I’m a movieholic.

Many of us remember growing up in a less complicated time. School was simple (no common core) and dodgeball was awesome. We had no cell phones, laptops, Facebook, Snapchat and the endless distractions that our youth endure in this digital age. Today, kids are having babies … bullying is elevated with social media. Children are committing suicide and posting fights online. It is becoming a social norm for them. They need our guidance and our direction now, more than ever.

One definition of a community is “a feeling of fellowship with others, because of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.”

To me, community means putting others before yourself. Taking pride in where you live. Looking after each other and even just saying ‘hello’ when we are walking down the street. Simply smiling at others.

It seems simple, right? I am afraid not – not in these times. It means being different, standing out to do what’s right. To be a friend, to be a neighbor, to be Innisfree is to to be a BIG. I’m proud to be a BIG and I’m proud to have two new friends in my life.

UWF in the Garden

In the Spring of 2017, From the Ground Up community garden’s Lead Gardener Elizabeth Eubanks was invited to speak to Christian Wagley’s Introduction to Environmental Science class at the University of West Florida.

Wagley then encouraged students to visit the garden to volunteer as a hands-on learning experience. In total, Eubanks estimates well over 100 man hours from around 40 different UWF students contributed to garden chores this semester.

“I know Elizabeth from being a neighbor to the garden and through my own passions for gardening, as I have brought a couple of local groups to the garden for tours,” Wagley says. “On each visit, Elizabeth wows us all with her combination of passion, knowledge, teaching and goodwill.”

Eubanks echoes his sentiments:

“A big HUGE thanks to Christian Wagley for letting me come speak to his class, then for sending his students to the garden,” Eubanks says. “I love to see how people bring their own passions into the garden. It’s priceless.”

The students helped with a variety of projects, including weeding and other common tasks. Two students in particular – Andrew S. and Anthony M. – went one step further, using their time and talents to record and edit a video promoting the Pensacola-based community garden.

View the video they created here.

“Our environmental science course is all in the classroom except for the service learning, and so that’s our one chance to get students out to see, touch, taste, smell and connect with the community,” Wagley adds. “Working in the garden and the other experiences our students have are a vital complement to what they learn in the classroom.”

To learn more about From the Ground Up garden and how you can get involved, please visit From the Ground Up Garden on Facebook.

– Ashley Kahn Salley
Lead Storyteller, Innisfree Hotels

Innisfree Hotels, Achieve Escambia

In 2017, Innisfree Hotels made a gift of $10,000 to Achieve Escambia to support educational opportunity in Northwest Florida.

Under the umbrella of the United Way, Achieve Escambia is a collective impact of leaders across industries in Escambia County – from public safety to health care, faith, government and even hospitality – with a mission of addressing social challenges by aligning efforts.

Simply put, together we can do more.

‘The collective impact is what really drew us to get involved,” says George Coolbaugh, a regional director for Innisfree Hotels with years of experience working for local nonprofit organizations.

“Achieve Escambia is everything we stand for,” she says. “It fits our ‘Framework for Success’.”

In Escambia County, statistics for students are not where they need to be.

• Only 67 percent of students are ready for Kindergarten.
• 72.7 percent graduate high school on time.
• 63 percent of the working population hold a high school diploma or less.

The community is coming together to help students achieve more, and Innisfree Hotels wants to be part of it.

“There are so many different obstacles,” Coolbaugh continues. “Not only are they not prepared for Kindergarten, but we’re finding out they’re not prepared for life.”

There is a correlation between the kids that don’t make their third grade marks and those who don’t make their middle school marks and ultimately do not graduate from high school. Achieve Escambia is striving to change that, one step at a time.

“It really needed to be bigger than just one agency trying to figure out a plan. We needed collective impact,” Coolbaugh says. “When Julian MacQueen hears something that big needs to happen, he gets involved.”

So does his wife, Kim MacQueen, who joined Julian in meeting with representatives of Achieve Escambia.

Of the gift, she says:

“Achieve Escambia is a unique and powerful idea, instigated by strong local leadership. It is a natural fit with Innisfree’s goal to contribute to efforts that unite our community and foster communication across sectors and service groups. We are especially interested in supporting improvements in education.”

Learn more about Achieve Escambia and how you can get involved here.

– Ashley Kahn Salley
Lead Storyteller, Innisfree Hotels

Hilton Garden Inn, Fort Walton Beach Now Open

FORT WALTON BEACH, FLA. – May 12, 2017 – On Friday, May 12, 2017, Innisfree Hotels opened the doors to the new Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

The 175-room beachfront hotel features …

• Beautiful ‘Lazy River’ pool and deck overlooking the Gulf of Mexico
• Large 5,500 sq. ft. beach view banquet room
• Full-service on-site restaurant
• Indoor bar and outdoor bar with fire pits
• Indoor pool
• Hot tub
• Supervised children’s activities

The Hilton Garden Inn sits adjacent to the Holiday Inn Resort, Innisfree’s first successful property built within the U.S. Air Force Enhanced Use Lease Program. A percentage of hotel revenues will be provided to nearby Eglin AFB to support initiatives benefiting service members.

“This is a special property for Innisfree, because we know we’re doing something right in Fort Walton Beach,” says founder and CEO Julian MacQueen. “Our guests so loved the hotel next door that design immediately began on the Hilton Garden Inn. We’re excited to share with our guests a brand new, beautiful hotel that truly reflects this community and its spirit.”

Innisfree has long enjoyed a relationship with Hilton Hotels, operating a full-service Hilton in Pensacola Beach, Fla., a Hilton Garden Inn in Orange Beach, Ala., and two Hampton Inn & Suites locations – with a third coming to Panama City Beach, Fla. in Summer 2017.

The latest franchise will draw members of the popular Hilton Honors rewards program to Fort Walton Beach, further establishing the location among Florida’s top vacation and conference destinations.

Although the Hilton Garden Inn will offer 5,500 sq. ft. of beachfront meeting space, its design reaches far beyond traditional business hotels. The new hotel is one of few among the worldwide brand to be located in a beachfront community.

“Our design team worked hand-in-hand with the brand to incorporate coastal elements throughout the property,” says Director of Development Rich Chism. “From the moment you walk into the lobby until you hit our expansive Gulf front courtyard, the feeling of being at the beach comes at you wave upon wave.”

The accomplished design team includes:

• Architectural design by Larry Adams of Bullock Tice Associates of Pensacola, Fla.
• Interior design by Debbie Adrian of ACC Design of Memphis, Tenn.
• Pool and landscape design by Chad Watkins of WAS Design of Foley, Ala.
• Civil Engineering by Choctaw Engineering of Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
• Construction services by Robins and Morton Construction of Birmingham, Ala.

Innisfree is proud to partner once again with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Atmore, Ala. Financing was provided by Pen Air Federal Credit Union and its largest participant, Navy Federal Credit Union.

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ABOUT INNISFREE HOTELS

For more than three decades, Innisfree Hotels has expertly managed and developed dozens of hotels in partnership with many of the world’s most recognized hotel brands. Today, Innisfree owns or manages 2,406 hotel rooms, with approximately 1,500 employees.

Innisfree is a triple bottom line company, measuring success not only in profits, but also through its impact on people and the planet. To these ends, Innisfree strives to promote a culture of responsibility and service to humanity. A value-driven corporate culture enables the company to have a deeper understanding of the needs of its guests, partners and clients, thus delivering service that is synonymous with creating fun and memorable experiences.

By Julian MacQueen, Founder and CEO, Innisfree Hotels

I believe work done in service to mankind is equivalent to worship.

This comes from the Baha’i teachings that talk about actions and deeds. This is not a religion of words, it’s a religion of action. You can’t simply say something with words and not back it up with deeds.

The teachings, in my view, are very practical – not salvation simply through words. That really resonated with me when I started investigating the religion. To me, it made a lot of sense.

So about 20 years ago, I read this book called “Barbarians to Bureaucrats: Corporate Life Cycle Strategies” by Lawrence Miller, a well respected Baha’i and corporate coach who has worked with big Fortune 100 companies including Chick Fil A.

He talks about the evolution of a businesses from this barbaric, ‘make-something-happen’ culture. As success evolves, you end up going into a bureaucratic mode, where rules and procedures take precedence over the entrepreneurial spirit.

He interprets the evolution of America as this process of explorers going out to the borders of society, beginning at the East Coast with the pilgrims. They weren’t mainstream society, they were the outcasts, looking for something Europe couldn’t give them. Much was driven by religious zeal. They wanted to set up their version of Christianity.

So they would come to America and start over again.

Other people on the fringe were not content with the society created in America, now moving into the West and the Appalachian mountains. Those folks would become dissatisfied and move into the Plains and then the Rockies and ultimately to California. They were the Gold Rushers and the rejects.

Now you see a series of rejections moving westward. You get to the ocean, and there’s nowhere else to go. There, you have these people who are not mainstream thinkers. It’s an evolution of borderline thinkers … people who are looking for something that is not being satisfied.

When you get to the West Coast, that’s as far as you can go. So California is this cauldron of borderline thinkers who have now evolved into the beginning of everything new.

All trends begin in the west. Even today in 2017, all the big thought leaders are sitting there on the West Coast.

This put into perspective for me the evolution of people pushing against the social mores of the time. People will die for a principle, but they will only work for a paycheck.

Something clicked when I read that book.

I wanted to create a company based on principle, not paycheck.

I wanted principle to be our leading edge.

For example, at Innisfree Hotels, if someone understands they are changing a person’s life by making a comfortable and inviting environment, whether it be a beautifully made bed or a meal served with a smile, they can begin to see a higher purpose in what many would consider mundane.

Once a guest feels that this is something special, it builds on itself and over time, and with great colleagues, the atmosphere of the hotel takes on another feeling that is more conducive to building connections and seeing the world around you as a better place.

This thinking led to my deep ties to the Baha’i faith and principles. Work is worship, if you can figure out a way to change the perception. If you can find people who view service as a meritorious attribute, those are the kind of people you want to be around.

We know from our writings that, if you do that, it’s effectively worship. So what is the purpose of life other than to worship God and find yourself in a better place after this plane of existence?

These have become the ingredients of building something worthwhile here at Innisfree. To stay involved. To continue working on the culture. To build a legacy company based on these principles and not a balance sheet.

But it all starts back at the beginning when you ask yourself … what is the purpose?

If I’m going to spend 80 percent of my waking hours at work, do I do it to build my wealth or to create a culture that has some deep sense of purpose?

At Innisfree, we will always choose purpose over paycheck.

– As told to Ashley Kahn Salley
Lead Storyteller, Innisfree Hotels